The self

I have been watching as my artificial intelligence Asa H develops a model of its self.  (See, for example, my blogs of  4 March, 28 April, and 5 Dec. 2015)  But Thomas Metzinger and others have argued that there is no self. (See, for instance, Being No One, MIT Press, 2003) 

As an advocate of scientific pluralism I believe that one needs multiple models of reality. One need not talk only in terms of quantum fields, there will be times one will wish to talk in terms of atoms and molecules.  The idea of atoms may not be our most fundamental concept but it may still be useful.  Similarly, the concept of a self may remain useful too.  The self concept might be present in some models of reality but not in others.